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I grew up, as many Indians do, in an archipelago of tongues. My maternal grandfather, who was a surgeon in the city of Madras, was fluent in at least four languages and used each of them daily.

Aravind Adiga

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Aravind Adiga
Age: 50
Born: 1974
Born: October 23
Film Director
Journalist
Novelist
Writer
Madras
Cities
Surgeons
Least
Indians
Four
Languages
Archipelago
Language
Grandfather
Madras
Used
Tongue
Maternal
Many
Daily
Fluent
City
Surgeon
Grew
Tongues

More quotes by Aravind Adiga

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At a time when India is going through great changes and, with China, is likely to inherit the world from the west, it is important that writers like me try to highlight the brutal injustices of society.
Aravind Adiga
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Iqbal, that great poet, was so right. The moment you recognize what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave. To hell with the Naxals and their guns shipped from China. If you taught every poor boy how to paint, that would be the end of the rich in India.
Aravind Adiga
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Any good society survives on a circulation of favours.
Aravind Adiga
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What keeps India safe really is the heroism of millions of poor Indians who every day reject the allure of terrorism. What keeps India safe is just the courage of poor Indians, not the actions of its government.
Aravind Adiga
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The book of your revolution sits in the pit of your belly, young Indian. Crap it out, and read. Instead of which, they're all sitting in front of color TVs and watching cricket and shampoo advertisements.
Aravind Adiga
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It has always been very difficult for writers to survive commercially in India because the market was so small. But that's not true at all any more. It's one of the world's fastest growing and most vibrant markets for books, especially in English.
Aravind Adiga
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I am not an original thinker-but I am an original listener.)
Aravind Adiga
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The moment you recognize what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave
Aravind Adiga
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Neither. I am just one who has woken up while the rest of you are still sleeping.
Aravind Adiga
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I want to read Keats and Wordsworth, Hemingway, George Orwell.
Aravind Adiga
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Do we loathe our masters behind a facade of love - or do we love them behind a facade of loathing?
Aravind Adiga
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Let animals live like animals let humans live like humans. That's my whole philosophy in a sentence.
Aravind Adiga
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With their tinted windows up, the cars of the rich go like dark eggs down the roads of Delhi. Every now and then an egg will crack open a woman's hand, dazzling with gold bangles, stretches out an open window, flings an empty mineral water bottle onto the road and then the window goes up, and the egg is resealed.
Aravind Adiga
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Inconvenience in progress, work is regretted.
Aravind Adiga
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Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English.
Aravind Adiga
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Do you know about Hanuman, sir? He was the faithful servant of the god Rama, and we worship him in our temples because he is a shining example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love, and devotion. These are the kinds of gods they have foisted on us Mr. Jiabao. Understand, now, how hard it is for a man to win his freedom in India.
Aravind Adiga
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In a sense, being a full-time writer is less fun because there's no office to go to anymore, there's no set routine, there's no schedule. It can be quite isolating.
Aravind Adiga
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In terms of formal education, I may somewhat lacking. I never finished school. I am a self-taught entrepreneur, that's the best kind there is, trust me
Aravind Adiga
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Indians mock their corrupt politicians relentlessly, but they regard their honest politicians with silent suspicion. The first thing they do when they hear of a supposedly 'clean' politician is to grin. It is a cliche that honest politicians in India tend to have dishonest sons, who collect money from people seeking an audience with Dad.
Aravind Adiga
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It's amazing. The moment you show cash, everyone knows your language.
Aravind Adiga